DEC 30 Day Rule/Focus Pic & Discussion Thread

Don't sell the Veg short....it repels blizzards, tornadoes, and guys who wear pleated pants!

 

He's getting hit way too much. It started in the Denver game, but things are falling apart in Wisconsin.

 

It is a nice brush. It has a bit of scritch to it, but it does a good job a face lathering. I find I like it better with my creams than my synthetic brushes.

 

14 hours post Soviet shave. I think the whiskers are scared. My chin and jaw are still BBS. Neck would be a SAS. Not bad for a bad razor.

 

One of the hardest parts but my favourite part of straight razor shaving is that the shave is completely customisable:

You cam make the shave as aggressive or mild as you want even mid stroke, just change the angle of the blade. I found that mild DE razors were the most frustrating to shave with because the angle where the razor shaves is such an narrow band. A straight will shave at any angle(which can lead to blood).

You can change the characteristic of the edge depending upon how you hone/maintain it.

Enjoy the journey and welcome again to the dark side

I am doing the same focus in January as Adam. I am curious to see how different treatments affect the blade.

 

Dec 28 Shave 2.19

It's Sunday and I have plenty of time so I decided to get a jump start on January's focus, I decided to touch up my Hart Steel 7/8 on my new J Nat stone. I did not use any pasted strops after using the stone. I always used a pasted strop after touching up a blade on a stone. This was my first time to use the stone so not sure if I did good or bad. I did stick with the cream theme for December and Razorock Mudder Focker got it's second go round. The lather was good as expected.

The shave felt rough but I felt like I had to do all four passes to get a good comparison. The alum test was surprising, despite the rough feeling there only the slightest feedback. On closeness I consider this a fail. A solid SAS but no more, I usually get DFS or better. Clearly I need to experiment more with this stone.

Irritation A Closeness C+

Razorock Mudder Focker
Simpson Duke 3 Best
Hart Steel 7/8
Dry Gulch strop
Speick AS
Chanel Antaeus ASB
Chanel Antaeus

 

Straights to the Finish Line!

December 27

Razor - W.B. Speed Rabbit
Brush - Vie Long 12601 - The Pony
Soap - TSD Lanolin Bay Rum
Post - Cold water, Alum, Nivea

Final day of practice before going Soviet. I shaved before work since I didn't go in until 11 today. Things are getting a bit more natural, with grips and angles seeming to come better into focus now. So, speeding up a bit too. Managed a two pass CCS, probably the best I've had so far with no injuries. That's it, folks, tomorrow I change to the Red Russian. Am I ready? We'll find out won't we! I'm feeling confident in my ability to handle the razor, just not as confident in its ability. Going to be interesting. I'm off the next two days so plenty of time each day to work with it and also plenty of recovery time in the ER if necessary.

Not sure if it's an omen or not but we have major flooding going on around us tonight. Not close enough to be any danger to us, but getting around St. Charles County right now is a bit of an issue. I-70 closed both ways at the moment due to water over the road and we're still expecting up to 3 inches more rain before it ends sometime tomorrow. Fear not.....the route to the hospital after the shave tomorrow is safe!

Hope you all enjoyed the long holiday weekend!

​

 

You are so right!

 

Thanks Chris, it sure is!

 

Best. Opening. Ever.

 

I feel like I need to reintroduce myself. I'm William and I have been gone for about 750 posts. Had a convergence of factors equaling the perfect storm. Got sick (have an auto immune disorder that made things 10 times worse than it should have been). Then as I recovered the county decided to do some construction on the drainage line behind my house cutting my internet connection in the process. Time warner refused to fix it until they finished construction because the county refused to agree to try be work around the bright orange cable running along my back fence line. Then my cell phone finally gave out. So that was my fun leading into Christmas.

Had an amazing Christmas though with lots of food and lots of family time! Couldn't ask for better. Hope everyone had a Merry And Blessed Christmas and I an sure I will read about then as I try and get caught up. Finally have internet and the time to try and get caught up.

Tomorrow I will try and post some about my shaves including detailing where the @Bama Samurai vs @Rufus T. Settings war stands. Hint . . . not much has changed since my last post about 800 ago except the number settings on the executive.

Will spend some time getting up to speed on everything going on (I assume @NCoxSTL is still kicking and hasn't done anything too crazy yet) unless some one wants to give me a summary . . . @Drygulch? Y'all have a good evening!

 

Glad you're back and hopefully feeling lots better! You're just in time for my Soviet shave tomorrow!!! Perfect timing. I've spent the past week with a "real" straight razor in preparation for tomorrow. Pull up a chair, pop the popcorn and you're right back in the swing of things.

 

Thanks! Doing better but not 100% yet. It will take time.

Sounds like I just got all the summary I need. Neal using straights and about to use a Soviet straight. Definitely glad I made it back when I did!!

Oh and good luck tomorrow!!

 

No worries! Welcome back to the show that never ends. Just start up again! Nice to see you here!

 

@wristwatchb I never kept track of how many shaves I had on my straight but when it started tugging I would strop on cardboard or newspaper instead of leather. When I used a straight before I didn't know anything about pasted strops but cardboard and newspaper worked with many many more laps.

The longevity of my straight's edge depended on my angle and the amount of passes I had to make. If I left it a day or 2 between shaves a 2 or 3 pass was needed but with everyday shaves a 1 or 2 pass was enough. If I rushed I didn't keep optimum angles and the edge had to be refreshed sooner. I also had more irritation.

 

Don't get nuts.
Soup cans are workable.
Route 66. Get some.
I going dark side.
New guys are killing it.
Something about Osage. And Nuts.

That was your update.

 

I started the process and am two shaves in with a Soviet straight, and am making it work. Neal starts with a worse Soviet straight tomorrow. We will all keep an eye on him.

 

Epic.

 

Excellent summary. I feel like I never left!

One point of clarification though. The Don't get nuts. Does that mean don't listen to the Ivan-Igor-Boris-Neal voice in your head or as in don't scratch with menthol hands? Or maybe both.

 

So we can all thank you for the upcoming thrill ride with the Soviet straight.

. . .